coheedfandomcom-20200214-history
Mothers of Men
Mothers Of Men is the fourth song on the 2012 album The Afterman: Ascension. Lyrics In this space where nothing will seem too right Our voice unheard in this quiet fight This march we lead will breed our song To them we're nothing, to them we're pawns Oh, a desperate play to feel like we belong Now, as we take up into the streets Remember, I depend on you as much as you on me Don't try to fake it, let's not pretend We made you mothers, we made you men We made you mothers, we made you men Oh, it's no surprise Nobody listens anymore To what we're saying, to what was said And in your absence we promised you "Oh we'll behave, oh, we'll behave" So just keep running Everything will look better once you look away 'Cause what's the difference? Oh I agree Is there a difference we make? (Your day will come...) The rain starts dancing across our backs These ardent words seize this heart attack Belief still strong, we can make this change The stage is set to occupy the brain This stage is, we made this, we made this... WE MADE IT Oh, it's no surprise Nobody listens anymore To what we're saying, to what was said And in your absence we promised you "We'll behave, oh, we'll behave" So just keep running Everything will look better once you look away 'Cause what's the difference? Is there a difference we make? Between a dapper villain in a Sunday serial at the podium Or another cog in the wheel Just another cog in the wheel They're both capable of making life hard No bandage can mend all these parts So why do I give? Between, between, between Between, between, between Between, between, between Oh, it's no surprise Nobody listens anymore To what we're saying, to what was said And in your absence we promised you "We'll behave, oh, we'll behave" So just keep running Everything will look better once you look away 'Cause what's the difference? Oh, what's the difference? ... Of making life hard No bandage can mend all these parts So why do I live with this? No difference... Goodnight. Inspiration "As the Occupy movement was happening, I found myself considering the idea of protest in general and what makes the public decide they have enough differences to take a stand. Coheed is not a political band and this song is no real exception. Instead, it evolved out of thinking about how people change. Their interests; their needs; their political stance; whatever they may be. Music, in particular, is one of those things that people gravitate to in their formative years. We start listening to certain bands or types of music in our youth and sometimes grow out of them to fit in with what's hip or what feels cool with our peers at that moment. But there's something to be said about recognizing where you came from and the things that helped you grow into the adults you are now." Story Free of Domino, Sirius journeys deeper into the blue. He's still trying to process what has just happened to him. From his experience within the maze, he's deduced that an individual's persona in life, echoes as energy in death through the beams of the Keywork. If Domino is any kind of example, a tormented person in life is a negative energy in death, whereas a good person in life will output positive energy in the after. Yet, Sirius still has a great deal to learn. He will soon find that these souls--in all their rage and joy, sadness and virtue--make up the beams of light, eternally forced (or so it seems) to emit energy for the greater good. His next discovery will be that the Keywork doesn't discriminate against positive or negative energy. It's all equally valuable to the output. This is the cause of tremendous unrest within the Keywork, where many of the souls, on either end of the spectrum, protest for their individuality. Most of the entities who've been well-behaved in life, banking on the possibility of a heaven and hell type scenario, are unhappy to find that their 'afterlife' in the Keywork is no better than the 'afterlife' of the entities who were criminals and murderers. Some of those who were hateful in life are angry that they have no chance at redemption in the after...or are content to maintain that attitude. They are all destined to commingle eternally, their energies as diverse here as they were in life. There is no one for them to bring their discontent to, until Sirius shows up, the first human to ever enter the Keywork. Sirius is very attractive to the souls; the good, who want recognition for their positive behavior and the bad entities seeking salvation, who can't attain change in death. They can feel his presence, this man in the after... The deeper Sirius gets into the Keywork, the more he discovers the parallel world beyond--a never-ending, monochromatic, fictional plane, where these souls remain as tangible energy. It is an entirely neutral place, neither bad nor good. Sirius does not know it yet, but the bland landscape is the projection of the entities, having been exposed to the repeating loop of their lives playing out within the maze, over and over, until even the most poignant moments of their human lives feel mundane. Later, he will come to know this place as The Mono. Submerged in the unfamiliar, Sirius can't help but try to regain his mental bearings, as if his brain were pushing familiar, comforting things into his mind. Like notches cut into a mountainside as he climbs, these are the spaces to hold on to, to keep him steady; ''A morning walk with Meri. The tiny smile on her lips as she slept. Her tip-toeing around the kitchen, recreating some elaborate concoction she'd seen on the holoscreen earlier that day. The way she'd scratch her left hand uncontrollaby when she was mad or scared or upset. ''After years of studying her and working to uncover the structure of his wife, he could list a million things that made up this phenomenon called Meri. A million things to love. A million things he'd already begun to miss. Sirius explores the world, searching for a way out, he is careful not to draw attention to himself, moving in hidden places as he goes, fully aware that his presence could be catastrophic to the balance here. It appears that the world is contained, endless, yet somehow limited; until he reaches out and finds he is able to physically peel back a portion of the space around him, as if the atmosphere itself was a tangible substance. He's startled and confused to find that the area beyond what's been peeled away is in full, stunning color, similar to that of the planet he knows--only incredible beyond anything anyone could ever comprehend. It is a perfect Utopia beyond this place, bathed in a warm glow...the purest light he's ever seen. His innate tendency to give things definition--to name them--can conjure up nothing. Suddenly, the piece draws back up, concealing his discovery and returning to its previous mundane appearance. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: The world within the Keywork is the first stop of the two levels of the afterlife. The first, where Sirius is at the moment, is actually more of a purgatory, though the souls are unaware that this is not necessarily their final resting place. Life, it turns out, was simply a trial run for this stage, where souls must coexist together with their own individual problems and demands, until they learn that true peace can only come from the shedding of the simplistic human agendas, the letting go of the consciousness reserved for the physical bodies rather than souls. They must let go of everything. Once the souls stop looking out only for themselves--shirking the "me, me, me," attitude that leads to regret, unfinished business and unrest--they can move to the collective consciousness, to the perfect Utopian afterlife.) Background 'As the Occupy movement was happening, I found myself considering the idea of protest in general and what makes the public decide they have enough differences to take a stand. Coheed is not a political band and this song is no real exception. Instead, it evolved out of thinking about how people change. Their interests; their needs; their political stance; whatever they may be. Music, in particular, is one of those things that people gravitate to in their formative years. We start listening to certain bands or types of music in our youth and sometimes grow out of them to fit in with what's hip or what feels cool with our peers at that moment. But there's something to be said about recognizing where you came from and the things that helped you grow into the adults you are now.' Category:The Afterman: Ascension Category:Songs